The latest outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa, considered to be the worst ever since the virus was discovered in 1976, has killed 672 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization.

2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak Situation Map as at July 20, 2014. Image released to public domain by CDC.

So far, health officials have counted 1,201 cases since it was first diagnosed in February. About 60 percent of people who have caught the disease in the current outbreak have died.

The Liberian man's body was cremated in Lagos, and the private hospital where he was treated has been shut and quarantined.

An outbreak of the highly infectious disease in Nigeria would be catastrophic. The country is at war with the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which has killed, maimed and abducted civilians over the last four years. Also, about 30,000 members of the Nigerian Medical Association are on an indefinite strike until certain changes are made to the public health system. Critics have called their demands “untenable.” Following the Liberian man's death from Ebola in Lagos, the association refused to return to work.

Ebola virus is transmitted through contact with the body fluids of infected animals like bats and monkey. This is why the outbreak has devastated those areas where bush meat, or meat from wild animals, is eaten. The virus can spread from person to person through direct contact with blood, broken skin of someone who is infected or an infected corpse. Symptoms include fever, weakness, nausea, headache, diarrhea, and internal and external bleeding.

Nigerian netizens have been discussing the dangers that a possible Ebola epidemic poses to the country. Chuba Ugwu, a scientist between Lagos and London, wrote on Twitter:

God please, don't let this #Ebola story be true. Combating Boko Haram and an #Ebola outbreak simultaneously WILL practically kill us all.

Enlighten people about this Ebola virus our bloggers will not. Trust them to be the first to let you know if Beyonce ate moi moi [a Nigerian steamed bean pudding made from a mixture of washed and peeled black-eyed peas, onions and fresh ground peppers]

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